Indian Railway privatization A review

Since 2014 when India got a new Prime Minister in the form of Shri Modi, India has been seeing a wide range of initiatives towards every sphere which matters for a country. He started it with Swacch Bharat Abhiyan which had resulted in a revolutionary initiative that is very much visible everywhere around us. Then his initiative towards Make in India, Startup India, Digitial India all has given wonderful benefits so far which is bound to increase tremendously. India will become an export hub for defense just like Russia, the USA, Israel UK, and France... Now after the basics are on track which will keep increasing towards its best pace needed, privatization of the Indian railway is initiated. The possible benefits of the same and what exactly the privatization means are tried to present here in the form of images and videos.

Mumbai Central railway stations great facility of "Pod Stay" with international standards... 

In the aviation industry "Air India" is under the control of government of India aviation ministry. But there are lot many private airlines which are operating in India like "Sahara", jet airways, King Fisher airlines, Vistara, and a few foreign airlines. The airports are government controlled but the facilities are enjoyed by government airlines as well as private airlines. Government benefits from this private airlines as it charges  them for using the infrastructure as per general terms and conditions among international rules. Similarly, Indian Railways will never become an altogether private, but, it will allow private trains by allocating certain routes to them and these private players will use government controlled railway tracks and other infrastructures for which government controlled Indian railways will receive compensation. 

One live example, which compel us to move towards privatization... 😔😢

India being a huge country and to compensate the loss of years Indian railways suffered due to the apathy of more than 70 years, and in order to make sure Indian railways spread itself to every nook and corner of the country to the extent this benefit to every Indian, it is inevitable to not to privatization. Privatization through a systematic and gradual manner will only benefit the nation as the service standard will increase tremendously, accountability will increase by leaps and bounds, responsibility will be thrust on them on the service part which will only benefit Indian passengers. 

Every new train being introduced into service are modernised with great features which we were unable to expect in the near future.

Ahmedabad to Kevadia train route on a special glass train. 

SBI bank's staff's height of irresponsibility.... 

The benefits will be not only in the form of good service but also 10 times better facilities... improved infrastructure as reflected in the images below. At present these types of coaches and infrastructure are only present in a few trains but through privatization, the speed of transforming Indian railways could be increased and the same will be in the interest of the nation.

Sudesh DJV

Indore MP India

14th July 2020

8:30 am

The train made on the "Make in India" initiative... 

*#निजीकरण* 

1) जब रेलवे बुकिंग लाइन में 3-4 घण्टे से खड़े किसी मजबूर को नज़र अन्दाज़ करते हुए , कम्प्यूटर के सामने बैठी कर्मचारी मज़े में “Solitare“ खेलती है , 

*तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

2) बैंक की लाइन मे सुबह से खड़े एक ज़रूरतमंद को बैंक का सुस्त कर्मी सिर हिलाते हुए बोल देता है “कल आना “ , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

3) लाख रुपए या उससे भी ज़्यादा सेलरी पाने वाला एक अधिकारी छोटे - मोटे काम के लिए ग़रीब से ग़रीब आदमी से घूस माँगता है , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

4) अगर Air India की टिकट 7000/- की है , उसी रूट पर Indigo/ spiceJet की टिकट 2500/- की होती है और आपको फ़्लाइट भी समय से मिल जाती है , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

5) सरकारी अस्पतालों में दवा , सुई, सिरिंज, हर तरह की जाँच मुफ़्त या न्यूनतम मूल्य पर होते हुए भी जब समय पर मरीज़ को डाक्टर / दवाई / सुविधा मुहैया ना होने पर असमय मर जाता है , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

6) रेलवे में AC का किराया Flight ✈️ से भी महँगा होते हुए भी कोई ख़ास सुविधा ना मुहैया होने व 12-15 घण्टे ट्रेन  लेट होता है , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

7) किसी भी छोटे - बड़े काम के लिए लोग जब रोज़ सरकारी दफ़्तरों में अपनी चप्पलें घिसते हैं , और कभी साहब नहीं आते तो कभी बाबु नहीं आते कभी घूस इतना माँग लेते हैं कि सामने वाले के बजट से ही बाहर हो ,  

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

8)  जिस आदमी को बाज़ार से नमक उधार नहीं मिलता , उस आदमी को किसी सरकारी बैंक से अरबों का लोन मिल जाता , नेता या मैनेजर की सेट्टिंग से , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

9) 30-40 हज़ार रुपए की सेलरी पाने वाला सरकारी बाबू अपने 30-35 साल की नौकरी में 4-5 करोड़ तक की जमा पूँजी / ज़मीन / मकान / गाड़ी कर लेता है , 

तो निजीकरण ज़रूरी हो जाता है ।

10) और आख़िर में सबसे गहरी व ज़ोरदार चोट “सरकारी कर्मी काम ना करने की सेलरी लेते हैं और काम करने के लिए रिश्वत ।” 

मैं एक Tax payer हूँ , और हर Tax सरकार को अदा करता हूँ ।

मुझे सरकार से Tax के बदले अच्छी सड़क , समुचित विकास , स्वच्छ जल , अच्छी स्वास्थ्य व्यवस्था व सुरक्षित परिवेश आदि चाहिए । 

लेकिन दुखद ये है कि इनमे से कुछ भी वक़्त पर नहीं मिलता है ।

अगर ये सारे काम सरकारी तन्त्र की जगह निजी तन्त्र व्यवस्थित ढंग से करें ...

तो मुझे क्या किसी को भी निजीकरण से कोई आपत्ति नहीं होगी ।

और ये भाजपा या कोंग्रेस की बात नहीं , व्यवस्था की बात है ।

इस संदेश से उपजे वैचारिक मतभेद पर कृपया व्यक्तिगत कटाक्ष न करे। अपने तर्क शालीनता से पटल पर रखें।

जनता जनार्दन खुद तय कर लेगी कि निजीकरण उसे चाहिए या नहीं।

NITI Aayog and Indian Railways have come out with a discussion paper for running 150 trains on 100 routes by private operators. The recommendations of the high powered committee envisaging an investment of 22500 crore rupees have been put in public domain for stakeholder consultations. The 100 identified routes which include Mumbai Central – New Delhi , Patna – New Delhi , Howrah- Chennai and Lucknow- Jammu Tawi etc. have been split in to 10-12 clusters. As per the report the private operator will have the right to collect market linked fares and will be provided flexibility of class composition and halts. The aim for this is said to ensure world class service experience to passengers , reduce supply demand deficit and introduce modern technology.

Benefits of private investment in Railways:

• Opens opportunity for returns from investment in Rail Projects.
• Improved Infrastructure – It will lead to better infrastructure which in turn would lead to improved amenities for travelers.
• People’s expectation has changed and we need to cope up with those so private investment is the way for providing higher services.
• Lesser Accidents –  Because private ownership is synonymous with better maintenance, supporters of privatisation feel that it will reduce the number of accidents, thus resulting in safe travel and higher monetary savings in the long run.
• Rails will remain the same, the signaling will remain the same butt interface with public and rolling stock have a substancial change.
• Augmentation of railway infrastructure and decongestion of the railways.
• Ensure timely availability of Rail Infrastructure to the beneficiaries viz. Port, Industry and States.
• Better maintenance and efficiency in implementation of projects.
• It leads to simplification of cost recovery for the money spent by the government in setting up the infrastructure. It would be profitable as the government would charge the operator
• The move would foster competition and hence lead to overall betterment in the quality of services.

 Challenges:

• Absence of independent regulator in the railway sector. In the absence there are chances of litigation or other issues as cropped up in the road sector.
• Government has water, river, health and education to look for and therefore limited finance available for railways.
• Coverage Limited to Lucrative Sectors: An advantage of Indian Railways being government- owned is that it provides nation-wide connectivity irrespective of profit. This would not be possible with privatization since routes which are less popular will be eliminated, thus having a negative impact on connectivity. It will also render some parts of the country virtually inaccessible and omit them from the process of development.
• No past experience in the PPP model for the implementation of projects for railways.
• Fares: Given that a private enterprise runs on profit, it is but natural to assume that the easiest way of accruing profits in Indian Railways would be to hike fares, thus rendering the service out of reach for lower income groups.
• Trade Unions.
• Affects socio-economic development: This will defeat the entire purpose of the system which is meant to serve the entire population of the country irrespective of the level of income
• Accountability: Private companies are unpredictable in their dealings and do not share their governance secrets with the world at large. In such a scenario it would be difficult to pin the accountability on a particular entity, should there be a discrepancy.

Way Forward:

• Privatization of railways operations will require a new institutional framework where infrastructure will remain as a government’s monopoly while there would be a market of service providers.
• It is important to modernize the railways, so measures must be taken to reimburse the social costs speedily so that resources of the railways is better allocated and facilities are upgraded from time to time.
• Core Railways functions can be Corporatized rather than privatized.
• Corporatization refers to the restructuring or transformation of a state-owned asset or organization into a corporation. These organizations typically have a board of directors, management, and shareholders.
• However, unlike publicly traded companies, the government is the company’s only shareholder, and the shares in the company are not publicly traded.
• The peripheral function of railways (cleanliness, ticket disposal, traveller’s amenities), must be privatized

Sudesh DJV writes on contemporary subjects in the form of Articles and poems which is in the interest of the Nation in particular and for Mankind in general.